Lungtok Tenpe Nyima
ལུང་རྟོགས་བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མ།
lung rtogs bstan pa'i nyi ma
Short Biography
Nyoshul Khenchen Lungtok Tenpe Nyima(1829-1901), was born in the Iron Tiger year of the 14th Rabjyung, to Chosung Tadrin of the Nyoshul clan. Thought to be the incarnation of Shantarakshita, this great being stood out like the clear, white moon among the constellations of Paltrul Rinpoche’s students. A master of the ultimate lineage of realization, one endowed with the 'Nine Holy Qualities'; he was wise, benevolent, powerful, erudite, venerable, noble and so forth. From an early age Lungtok manifested the signs of someone naturally holy, demonstrating an inherent grasp of love, compassion and bodhicitta. He mastered these qualities by repeating the mantra of Avalokiteshvara, the exalted bodhisattva of compassion, and making it his personal daily spiritual practice.
At Dzogchen Monastery he took his monk vows from Gyalse Zhenphen Thaye, at which time he was given the name “Lungtok Tenpe Nyima” , and studied with a great number of masters. But it was the great Bodhisattva Dza Paltrul Rinpoche who was his foremost Root Teacher, becoming the Heart Son to both him and the 4th Dzogchen Rinpoche. To Lungtok, Paltrul Rinpoche was his crown-jewel, the great lord of his Buddha-family, the guru with whom he had been karmicly connection for many lifetimes. Paltrul Rinpoche inturn cared for Lungtok with great loving and affection, and for twenty-eight years Lungtok Tenpe Nyima acted as Paltrul’s attendant, inseparable from his master, it was said “If there was no Lungtok, then Paltrul was without his child”. Paltrul Rinpoche empowered Khenpo Lungtok as his regent in the ultimate sense, that of realization, bestowing upon him in their entirety the tantras, explanatory commentaries and pith instructions of the secret Nyingtik teachings of utter lucidity as well as all the written works of the Omniscient One Longchenpa and his spiritual heir, Jigme Lingpa.
Nyoshul Khen Lungtok practiced in intensive retreats for many years and following his guru’s instructions, remained in hermitages throughout his entire life. He taught countless fortunate students the entire range of the secret and profound Nyingtik teachings of utter lucidity freely after the age of 50, as he was instructed to do, thus keeping the purest of samayas with his Lord, Paltrul. He lived thus until the age of seventy-two, a protector of all the teachings and all beings, manifesting unparalleled spiritual activities, masterfully meeting the needs of individual students. It was from this holy guru that Vajradhara Ngagi Wangpo received the tantras, explanatory commentaries and pith instructions of the Dzogchen Nyingtik approach to utter lucidity.
His collected works amount to 9 volumes, totaling 451 individual text. Nyoshul Khen Lungtok Tenpe Nyima's immediate reincarnation was Shedrub Tenpe Nyima. He prophesied that he would have thirteen incarnations named Nyima, but it was Shedrub Tenpe Nyima who took up residence at his main seat.[BL]
- Supplication of the Lama
ཆོས་བརྒྱད་མདུད་པ་རོ་སྙོམས་ངང་དུ་ཞིག །
Who freed the ties of the eight wordly concerns, in the state of equal taste,
བློས་བྱས་རི་མོ་ཀ་དག་དབྱིངས་སུ་ཡལ། །
Dissolving the mentally created images into the space of
primordial purity,
རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་གནས་ལུགས་མངོན་སུམ་གཟིགས། །
Beholding directly the natural state of Dzogchen,
ལུང་རྟོགས་བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མར་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།། །།
Lungtok Tenpay Nyima, to you I pray!
Main Teachers
- Jamgon Mipham
- Patrul Rinpoche
- Khenchen Pema Dorje
- Gyalse Zhenphen Thaye
- Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo
- Khenchen Thubten Gyaltsen Ozer
- 3rd Drime Zhingkyong Jigme Yonten Gonpo
- 4th Dzogchen Rinpoche Migyur Namkhe Dorje
Main Students
- Lerab Lingpa
- Jamgon Mipham
- Khenpo Ngakchung
- Jamyang Loter Wangpo
- Terton Rangrik Dorje
- Khenchen Thubten Gyaltsen Ozer
Main Lineages
- Nyong Tri (Patrul's "Experiential instruction of Dzogchen Nyingtik")
- Nyingma Kama
- Nyingthig Yazhi
- Longchen Nyingtik
Alternate Names & Spellings
- Ngakchen
- Gyaltsen Jangchub Dorje
- Khenpo Lungtok Tenpe Nyima
- Khenchen Lungtok Tenpe Nyima
- Nyoshul Lungtok Tenpe Nyima (smyo shul lung rtogs bstan pa'i nyi ma)
- Nyoshul Lama Lungtok Tenpe Nyima
- Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Gyaltsen Palzangpo
Other Reference Sources
- The Dzogchen Lineage of Nyoshul Khenpo
- A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems. (the longchen nyingtik history by Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje)
- Masters of Meditation and Miracles. (the longchen nyingtik history by Tulku Thondup)
- From the snga 'gyur rdzogs chen chos 'byung chen mo, smyo shul lung rtogs bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan gyi rnam thar bsdus pa